“We’re so much alike,” she continued. “Strong, stubborn, able to survive out there on our own. I knew when we first met that we were similar spirits. We’ve been solitary for so long that I think it’s taken both of us our entire lives to learn to lean on someone else.”
She inhaled, aware she might be the only one who felt this way, but needing to tell him.
“I’ve never loved anyone other than my mother and my sister. I’ve had men in my life, but they never mattered to me. But you and me, we have a connection. We share something together that I find amazing. When I’m with you, I’m at peace, in body and heart. I’ve never had that before. No one with the violence inside them that you think you carry around could make me feel that way.
“I need you, Ryder. And I’ve never needed anyone before. I love you.”
She didn’t wait for him to speak, just crawled into his lap, wrapped her arms around him and pressed her lips to his.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Angelique’s words played over and over in Ryder’s head. He’d started this to try to make her feel better, to show her the difference between him and her. Instead, she’d blown him away, accepting him for who he was, convincing him that he wasn’t his father and could never be, and then telling him that she loved him.
She loved him. What the hell had he done to deserve such an honor? He wasn’t an honorable man.
Ah, hell. Her soft lips slid like warm, silken butter over his, melting the last of the tension away. He gave up on thinking when the tip of her tongue slid through his teeth, jolting him into full sexual heat. With a sharp groan, he gave up and jerked her fully against him, wrapping his arms around her so he could feel her body-really feel her body.
Within seconds he was hard, his cock pushing against his pants with the rush of heat and desire that seemed to occur so damn fast whenever Angie was near. From the first time he’d become aware of her in the caves in Australia, when she’d thrown that first teasing remark his way and he’d responded by storming over to her and pulling her into his arms for a kiss, he’d known there was something about her that was different from other women.
She was right. There was a bond between them. He sure as hell felt it now. Like sparks of electricity that zinged through his nerve endings, firing him to life, concentrating all his thought processes on just her-on getting her clothes off so he could touch the soft silk of her body, kiss her all over. They were alone now. He didn’t need to hurry. He could take his time and really love her.
Really love her. Yeah, he did, didn’t he?
He stood, lifting Angie into his arms. She broke the kiss, looked at him, her gaze warm and melting all over him with heat and understanding.
It seemed to take forever to get upstairs and to his room. He could have taken her in the library again, but this time he wanted to be assured of privacy, so he could take his time.
He kicked the door closed and laid her on his bed. Yeah, he liked seeing her there, knowing that’s where she belonged, where she’d stay from now on.
She was his. A rush of possessiveness hit him like a mortar blast. He waited for the inevitable twinge of discomfort, the need to run that always happened when he started to get too close.
It didn’t happen. He liked having her here in his room. This is where he wanted her to stay.
She leaned up on her elbows, arched a brow, and watched him. She’d never looked sexier, one slender leg raised, her bare foot planted on the mattress. A natural, unaffected pose. And when she smiled at him-a smile of confidence in what was about to happen, but also mixed with a touch of vulnerability-man, that was hot. He knew how she felt. Yeah, they both knew they were going to get down to it, but they both had feelings bubbling up to the surface. They could both get hurt. But they were still going to put themselves out there.
He liked knowing they were even. It made him want to show her that she didn’t have anything to be afraid of. Not with him, anyway.
He’d never been one to take time with a woman, to explore every inch of her body, to really pleasure her. It was always about getting to the sweet spot, getting them both off, then hightailing it the hell out of there before anything emotional happened. But now, with Angelique, he had all this damn. . emotion. It was physical, for sure; but there was much more than that, and he wasn’t sure he knew what to do with all of it.
Other than he really wanted to take it slow.
He crawled onto the end of the bed and kissed the top of her foot.
“That tickles,” she said.
“Does it?” He did it again, this time kissing his way up to her ankle and onto her calf, reaching out to hold her leg in place when she laughed. The deep, gravelly sound of her laugh sent shock waves of pleasure through his body.
“What are you doing?”
“Kissing you.”
“Oh.”
He loved the feel of her skin against his lips. Even her knee. And he loved even more the way she responded, lying back and just. . breathing. Deeply. As if she was really affected by his lips on her kneecap. That made him smile.
She let out a little whispered gasp when he moved upward, pressing his lips close to her inner thigh.
“Ryder.”
“Yeah, darlin’,” he murmured against her skin.
“I love your mouth.”
He loved the sound of her voice. “Keep talking to me.” He reached for the waistband of her shorts and tugged them over her hips, drawing them down her legs and out of his way. “Now these are pretty.”
Tiny black panties, part lace, part satin, skimming just her hipbones and barely covering her sex. Naughty little things, just like the woman wearing them.
She tilted her head up, watching him as he pressed his hand over her pubic bone.
“I. . I like underwear. It makes me feel feminine even when I’m working a dusty, dirty archaeological dig. Sometimes it’s. . months before I can dress up and I. . oh, God.”
He grinned, knowing she’d lost her ability to speak when he slid his fingers under the silky material to caress the moist, swollen cleft of her sex. Her head dropped to the mattress and she lifted against his hand.
“That’s it. Tell me what you want.”
“More.”
He gave her more, caressing her, dipping his fingers inside her. Damn. She clenched tight around him, grabbing his fingers with a warm, welcoming grip. His cock tightened and he wanted to be deep inside her. Right now.
But he was going to thoroughly pleasure her from the tips of her toes to the top of her head, which meant his own needs would have to wait. Which wasn’t difficult considering how she was squirming underneath him. Her reactions ratcheted up his own desire to please her. So he rolled to the side of her, placed a soft kiss on her hip, and just watched her face as he dragged his thumb over her center.
She turned her head, her eyes open and focused on his face.
“Do you like that?”
“Yes.”
“There?”